Tag: Scottsdale

Press Coffee announced last week they’re opening the 9th location of the popular coffee shop/cafe at the Scottsdale Waterfront in late August. It will be the roasters’ 2nd Scottsdale location since opening in the Scottsdale Quarter.

“Old Town Scottsdale is a great neighborhood for locals and Arizona visitors alike and we’re looking forward to being a part of the community,” said Press Coffee co-owner Jason Kyle.

Coffee and more

When Press opens their Scottsdale Waterfront location customers will be able to order from a new breakfast and lunch menu made on site and pastries from Phoenix Public Market.

Egg sandwich. All photos courtesy of Press Coffee

Espresso, pour overs and cold brews will be available using Press’s award-winning coffee roasts.

Donating to Phoenix Children’s Hospital

Once opened Press the Scottsdale Waterfront store will offer its daily drip coffee for $1 the weekend August of 24-26th with all proceeds donated to Phoenix Children’s Hospital. “We’re glad we can start things off by supporting the amazing efforts of Phoenix Children’s Hospital at the opening.” says Kyle.

Flagship roastery in north Phoenix

The Scottsdale Waterfront announcement comes two months after Press announced it was opening a flagship roastery in Spring 2019 near 32nd St. & Shea Blvd. in north Phoenix.

Once opened it will handle all of Press’s roasting along with a cafe and plenty of meeting space. Co-owner Steve Kraus say’s “We are excited about the future of this iconic building. We wanted to go beyond just a production facility and create a space that allows us to share our love for coffee with the community.”

The new facility will double Press’s production and once opened the current facility will exclusively produce their cold brews.

The fast casual Build-Your-Own restaurant concepts seem to be catching more steam as Ramen Hood opened in north Scottsdale recently. The strip mall shop off the loop 101 at Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. already has a captive audience.

All photos courtesy of Ramen Hood

Guests enjoy ramen bowls made with authentic Japanese ingredients along with rice bowls and Japanese specialties including Gyoza, Karaage Fried Chicken and Steamed Bao. Wash your meal down with the popular Asian soft drink Ramune aka Marble soda or a Japanese tea.

Why Ramen Hood?

“Ramen is one of my most favorite foods in the world. Every time I visit Japan, my first stop is finding a mom and pop ramen restaurant. The best ones are always very low-key, no frills, but always have long lines,” says James Xie, owner of Ramen Hood. “I realized there isn’t really anything comparable in Phoenix. I want people here to know what real ramen is like, and to not be intimidated in trying new styles and flavors.

Ramen bowl with tofu

Walk up to the counter at Ramen Hood and pick a Ramen or Rice bowl then add a protein(Cha Siu Pork, Tofu, etc) broth, sauce and toppings and in minutes you’ll have an Instagram worthy meal.

“Ramen can be way more exciting than the instant packets we ate in college. And at Ramen Hood, we make it just as easy to enjoy!”

“I’ve spoken to many ramen chefs throughout Japan who graciously gave me advice on combining different ingredients, as well as helped me come up with a few new ideas to create the perfect bowl of ramen,” says Xie, who has worked in the restaurant industry since he was 15. “I think it’s these trade secrets that will really make Ramen Hood stand out in the Valley and resonate with people who may not be familiar with traditional ramen.”

Zuzu and executive chef Russell LaCasce know how to pull off exciting off menu dinner events. Diners and wine geeks should be excited for their continued success as the next four months of their monthly Monday Night Chef’s Table is set.

The signature restaurant at Scottsdale’s Hotel Valley Ho will offer guests a 4-course dinner paired with wines from prestigious wineries. A guest from the winery will be on hand to speak about the wines and pairings. Although all the menus are not finalized the wineries are and dates are as follows….

Each of the dinners start at 6:30 p.m. and cost $75 ++ per person and reservations can be made at http://www.hotelvalleyho.com/ or by calling 480-376-2600. Zuzu is at 6850 E. Main St. Scottsdale 85251.

If you’re a fan of savory cheeses like me then the new 50 lb. cheese wheel at the Scottsdale location of Babbo Italian Eatery should be of interest. The bowled out Parmesan wheel is 9 in. tall and 17 in. wide and will be used to prepare a weekly special created for the occasion.

Photos courtesy of Babbo Italian Eatery

Those guests that want to taste the cheesy creation will be able to Wed.- Sun. To find out what each week’s new dish will be the restaurant will be releasing it on their Instagram page @BabboItalianEatery

There are 8 family owned Babbo Italian Eatery’s around the Phoenix area with Scottsdale location at 8840 E. Indian Bend Rd. 85258. To find a location near you visit their website.

Scottsdale’s Crust neighborhood Italian eatery closed the doors on the original location on Indian Bend recently. Come August owner Michael Merendino opens the flagship restaurant a mile up Hayden Rd. to 3,500 square foot location in the hip Mercado de Lago retail center.

The larger, state of-the-art location will offer guests a welcoming atmosphere as they enjoy the same delicious east coast Italian food Crust has offered over the years. An outdoor patio is expected to be popular as is the 25 seat bar where diners will enjoy an extensive wine and beer list from around the world along with a hand crafted cocktail menu.

Merendino will continue to be community minded with the Crust Cares program and thanks the community for their continued support.

If you can’t wait for the new Scottsdale location to open check out their downtown Chandler location at 10 San Marcos Pl. 85225.

Crust will be at 8300 N. Hayden Rd. Suite F101. Scottsdale 85258. For more information see their website.

Reaching a 10 year anniversary for a small business is a big accomplishment. Business’s that make it that long celebrate in several different ways some big, some small. Kurt & Peggy co-owners of LDV Winery is celebrating in a big way as the-re-locate their popular Scottsdale Wine Gallery to SouthBridge on Stetson Dr.

Moving to nearby Southbridge on the canal, LDV will be able to attract new customers from the large amount of foot traffic from nearby restaurants and shopping.

“We are thrilled to bring even better wine experiences, tastings and purchase offerings to our members and guests through our new location,” says co-owner Peggy Fiandaca. “It’s our pleasure and distinct honor to share our love and knowledge of Arizona wines with other local wine enthusiasts and visitors to the area that are unaware of our region’s amazing wine growing abilities.”

Events at SouthBridge

With the E. 1st St. location closing on July 27th all August and September events are cancelled until they open in October. Its business as usual until the 27th with daily happy hour and WineDown Wednesday. Once they Kurt and Peggy re-open at their new location they will continue their exciting events focused around their wines made at their winery in southern Arizona.

Purchases of wine are 30% off when you buy 6 until they close at 8 p.m. on July 27th. To purchase wines or get more information reach out to 602-320-1485, info@ldvwinegallery.com or https://ldvwinery.com/

Here is the schedule of events for October, November and December.

OCTOBER

LDV Winery Sky Islander Wine Club Pick-up Party

Sunday, October 14th -1:00 p.m. -5:00 p.m.

Sky Islander Wine Club members can pick up their wine club packages and taste through the new wines. Guests are welcome; regular tasting fees apply. Wine club packages will be charged to credit card on file the beginning of October. Call Peggy 602-320-1485 to update any club member information.

Wine Glass Painting with Alexandria Reilly

Saturday, October 20th -10:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.

Guest can enjoy this Wine glass painting class with assistance from the artist. All art supplies and nibbles by Chef Jennifer of Witnessing Nature in Food will be provided. LDV wines available for purchase to enjoy during the class. Cost: $35.00; registration: https://www.paintandcreateaz.com/book-online

LDV Harvest Festival

Saturday, October 27th 2018 -11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.

All are welcome to join in the celebration of the 2018 Harvest Completion with LDV Winery, enjoying great wine, a Le Nez du Vin (Nose of the Wine) competition, grape stomping photo opportunities, and music on the patio. Free to attend and enjoy wine by the glass discounts and nibbles such as artisan cheese, sausage and other noshes.

NOVEMBER

LDV 10th Year Celebration – Special Wine Release

Saturday, November 10th -During regular hours

Guests are invited to celebrate the LDV winemaker’s 60th birthday and the release of the LDV 10th Year Celebration limited edition wine. Celebration includes a tasting of the special 10th Year Celebration Wine and birthday cake. Admission is free.

Wine Glass Painting with Alexandria Reilly

Saturday, November 17th- 10:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.

Guest can enjoy this Wine glass painting class with assistance from the artist. All art supplies and nibbles by Chef Jennifer of Witnessing Nature in Food will be provided. LDV wines available for purchase to enjoy during the class. Cost: $35.00; registration: https://www.paintandcreateaz.com/book-online

Paint Your Pet with Tawny

Wednesday, November 28-6:00 p.m. -8:00 p.m.

During this pet-centric Wine Down Wednesday, artist Tawny will assist guests in painting pictures of their pets on a 9×12” pre-sketched canvas. Cost is $35.00, including all supplies, and LDV wines by the glass are available at happy hour prices. Registration: www.artedelamor.com

DECEMBER

During this holiday month, guests that bring in a toy for Toys for Tots will receive a 10 percent discount.

Corks, Crafts and Wine

Saturday, December 1st -10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Guests can bring in their glue guns and sticks to create wine-cork crafts such as wreaths, cork trees and ornaments in this fun and social environment while sipping wine and nibbling on snacks. Cost: $15, including a glass of wine. Registration: 602-320-1485

Wine Glass Painting with Alexandria Reilly

Saturday, December 8th- 10:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.

Guest can enjoy this Wine glass painting class with assistance from the artist. All art supplies and nibbles by Chef Jennifer of Witnessing Nature in Food will be provided. LDV wines available for purchase to enjoy during the class. Cost: $35.00; registration: https://www.paintandcreateaz.com/book-online

Paint Your Pet with Tawny

Wednesday, December 12th -6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

During this pet-centric Wine Down Wednesday, artist Tawny will assist guests in painting pictures of their pets on a 9×12” pre-sketched canvas. Cost is $35.00, including all supplies, and LDV wines by the glass are available at happy hour prices. Registration: www.artedelamor.com

Scottsdazzle – Scottsdale Wine Trail Santa Wine Around

Saturday, December 15th -6:00 p.m. -9:00 p.m.

Guests can get into the spirit of the season by decking themselves in their Santa or Mrs. Claus attire for a fun “Santa Wine Around” throughout downtown Scottsdale. With stops at four local wineries, each with wine specials and activities to celebrate the holidays, the entire downtown Scottsdale area will also be alive with holiday merriment and activities! Registration not required; all Scottsdazzle events can be viewed at www.scottsdazzle.com.

The summer months are a busy time of year for wineries and their winemakers and Arizona’s Aridus Wine Company is no different. With the growing season in full bloom winemakers and employees will be getting ready in the next few months to pick the grapes to make wine. At Aridus there is great anticipation for this years harvest as winemaker Lisa Strid spent the “off-season” in Australia working harvest in the Clare Valley.

Lisa has always been interested in Australian wine making so when the opportunity presented itself she jumped at the opportunity to spend 3 months learning techniques down under.

Lisa’s time in Australia

With Australia being in the southern hemisphere they have the opposite growing season and harvest than we do in Arizona. It’s not un-common for winemakers from up north to travel below the equator to work harvest and learn something new and build new relationships. Upon her return from Australia, Lisa answered questions about her trip and what she learned.

Why were you intrigued to go do a harvest in Australia?

I mostly wanted to learn. The more you expose yourself to different ways of doing things, at different wineries in different regions, the more you learn. Since I jumped right into full-time, year-round winemaking right out of school, I never had the experience of a harvest-hopping endless summer. I’d definitely been itching to make it to the southern hemisphere for a harvest, but the timing hadn’t been right until this year.

What are Kirrihill’s specialties?

Kirrihill is the second largest winery in the Clare Valley, so they produce a whole range of wines, but they’re mostly focused on Riesling (which the region is known for), Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. They do make a few small batch wines – my favorite amongst them being a Nero D’Avola made from fruit sourced from McLaren Vale. Their Peacemaker Shiraz is very nice as well.

What practices were different?

Simply being at a larger scale in a region that’s well established meant that there were a lot of differences to how things are done in Arizona. Nearly all of the grapes brought in were machine harvested. So that means no whole cluster pressing of whites, and no stem inclusion on red fermentation.

They had a number of different cap management strategies for the reds – both open and closed top fermenters with automatic pumpovers that could be very easily adjusted and customized on the fly, fermenters with pulsed air systems and rotary fermenters. Because of the sheer volume moving through the winery, it was necessary to get things through fermentation and stabilized as soon as possible, so there weren’t many cold soaks or extended macerations.

By the time I left, the regional Riesling we’d made early in the harvest season was ready for bottling. Also, everything’s measured in a different scale there – not just metric, but also sugars were measured in Baume rather than Brix. So I was doing a lot of mental conversion, especially at first.

What was the most fun while you were there?

I liked getting to know everyone. It was a crew from all corners of the globe, and everyone had such great attitudes.

Do they have harvest customs food-wise?

Not really, but The Sevenhill Pub did a harvest worker special every Wednesday evening – burger and a pint for $20. That’s about $14 USD.

What would Americans be surprised to learn from your ‘immersion’ there?

I didn’t even realize how great the rodeos are here in the US until I went to one there. The Aussies have us beat hands down in things like education, public safety, health care, and quality of life, but our rodeos are way better.

There are also a ton of vehicles with massive bullbars on them, and at first I thought it was because Aussies are all just really into looking like bad asses, but it’s actually functional. It’s so common for kangaroos to jump out into the road, seemingly from nowhere, that it helps to have a bullbar so as not to destroy your car if you can’t avoid hitting one.

Did you have a favorite food?

Fresh passionfruit.

Were there kangaroos on the crush pad?!

Not on the crush pad, but pretty much everywhere else! I’m an insect collector, and there were tons of giant rain moths – Trictena atripalpis – in the cellar starting in about mid-February.

What are you eager to try as a new technique at Aridus Wine Company?

I’ll be judiciously incorporating pulsed air into our protocols.

What did the Aussies ask you about life & winemaking in Arizona?

They were curious about the soils and the weather in the region, and wanted to know what varieties did well. I think I forced them to be curious about Mexican food because I talked about it so much.

Did you develop an accent?!

No, but I did ask a co-worker here, “How are you going?” when I got back without even thinking about it.

2018 harvest at Aridus Wine Company

When harvest begins in mid-July this will be the second year Aridus will be making wine from grapes grown on their own vineyards. Sauvignon Blanc and other white varietals will be the first to be picked. The winery in the Wilcox appellation of southeastern Arizona owns 40 acres of estate vineyard. The vineyard is split in to the “North Side” and the “South Side” with Turkey Creek as the dividing line.

“This estate vineyard defines a unique mix of mountain and desert fine wine grape growing,” explains winery owner Scott Dahmer. The winery also purchases grapes from other vineyards in Arizona and New Mexico.

The Aridus Wine Company winery is at 1126 North Haskell Avenue in Willcox. The winery’s tasting room is nearby, at 145 North Railview Avenue and is open Friday – Saturday from noon until 5:00 p.m.; appointments are not necessary. More info: 520/766-9463

Aridus Wine Company also has a tasting room in the old town neighborhood of Scottsdale, at 7173 East Main Street. This tasting room is open Monday – Saturday 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Sunday 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm. The tasting room stays open until 9:00 p.m. on Thursdays. More info at 520/954-2676 or at their website.

With local farmer’s markets growing in popularity the last few years in Phoenix it comes as no surprise when it heats up many farmer’s markets take the summer off. Hotel Valley Ho’s executive chef Rusell LaCasce’s solution is to have an indoor farmer’s market and invite a few chef friends.

On Saturday June 23rd & 30th and July 14th & 21st guests can escape the heat at the hotels’ Sands event venue from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Farmer’s market chefs & vendors

Guests will enjoy small bites prepared by local chefs Matt Carter, Gio Osso and Beau Macmillan while they shop for produce and handcrafted goods. At the Zuzu booth Chef LaCasce and Pastry Chef Audrey Enriquez will be selling homemade pastries including pies, scones and other homemade treats.

Guests will also be able to sample cocktails, purchase drinks from the full bar and listen to live music from Trio Rio while they shop.

Local purveyors including MJ Bread, Crow’s Dairy, Twisted Infusion Farms and Ruze Cake House will be on hand with other Arizona purveyors.

A refrigerate bag check will be available for your purchases while you enjoy the morning.

Purchase tickets

Tickets for the farmer’s market are available on-line for $25 in advance and $35 at the door. Your ticket gets you chef’s bites, cocktail samples and a 25% off gift certificate at Zuzu. A $10 voucher for use at the market with a purchase of $20 or more is also included.

People want options for their diet and next weeks launch of their Seasonal Crafts Menu, Pita Jungle gives customers options. With 7 new dishes, 7 protein options and 3 sides guests will have plenty of options to mix and match with.

4 new drinks will also be available on their cocktail menu along with a new Vegan and Gluten-Free menu.

With the resurgence of the neighborhood butcher, fish monger and doughnut maker popular local fish market Chula Seafood announced it will open a 2nd location at Uptown Plaza in central Phoenix in the fall.

All photos courtesy of Chula Seafood

Catching the fish

Jim Heflin founded Chula Seafood in 2009 and captains the San Diego based 68 foot F/V Chula which catches fresh fish in the cold waters of the Pacific. Chula uses a harpoon and hooks to catch fish as nets drag up anything in their path off the bottom of the ocean. The use of hooks and harpoon offers sustainability and is environmentally friendly.

Several times a week fresh fish is shipped to Phoenix in a refrigerated truck to Jim’s son Jon and Hogan Jamison who run the Scottsdale market and restaurant. The Scottsdale location opened to rave reviews for its quality and sustainable fishing methods in 2015.

If they don’t catch it they have fresh fish flown in weekly from sustainable sources. Chula Seafood is a favorite among local restaurateurs who purchase their fish for their menus from Chula Seafood.

Chula Seafood Uptown

When it opens, the new location will offer a fresh fish market and sit down restaurant like its first location in Scottsdale. The Phoenix location will be larger with 60 seats including a 6-seat bar. A larger menu overseen by executive chef Juan Zamora and implemented by Kyle Kent, formerly of Artizen at The Camby will be created.

Fried, sautéed, grilled fish are a few of the ways the fresh fish will be prepared and will also include raw shellfish, sashimi, salads and poke. The new location will also offer beer and wine and grab-n-go selections will also be available.

The Scottsdale location is at 8015 E. Roosevelt St. 85257. 480-621-5121. Check out their website for updates and information.